Manna criticizes new president's nomination process by PM

Opposing the nomination process of the country’s new President by the Awami League’s Parliamentary Party (ALPP), Nagorik Oikya convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna on Monday said it has manifested that the Prime Minister alone can appoint the head of the state.

“An indecent incident has happened this time. One thing is manifested that the Prime Minister can appoint the President. Taking a resolution (in the ALPP meeting), it was said that she (PM) would nominate whomever she thinks,” he said.

Manna also said there should have a minimum decorum like election and voting in nominating the president…“But all these things were trampled. This shows how arbitrary a person can be. It has also demonstrated that they will do the same thing to win the next polls.”

He made the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting between the liaison committees of the BNP and the Ganatantra Mancha at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.

Earlier on February 7, the ALPP unanimously gave AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the power to nominate the party’s candidate for president.

Awami League on Sunday submitted the papers to the Election Commission (EC) nominating Mohammed Shahabuddin, a retired district judge, a former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and a member of the AL Advisory Council, as its presidential candidate.

On Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced that ruling party nominee Shahabuddin was elected unopposed.

Later, the EC issued a gazette notification declaring Md Shahabuddin the 22nd president-elect of the country.

Sought his reaction in this regard, BNP standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku declined to make any comment. “Our reaction will come from our party. I can’t give a reaction from this meeting (of liaison committee).”

“I can only say many possible things can be impossible and many impossible things can be possible in a country that is run by one individual,” Tuku said.

Earlier, the leaders of the BNP and Ganatantra Mancha had an hour-long meeting where they discussed the ongoing simultaneous movement and assessed the programmes they have so far observed.